§ Mr. McNallyasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is his best estimate of the number of (a) 16 and (b) 17-year-olds in Scotland in each year from 1983 to 1988.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe latest—1979 based—official population projections produced by the Registrar General show the following:
Age at 30 June 16 year old 17 year old (thousands) 1983 89.6 87.9 1984 86.4 89.0 1985 85.6 85.7 1986 82.3 84.9 1987 81.6 81.6 1988 77.5 81.0 New—1981 based—projections are now being prepared for publication next year. A very provisional estimate, taking into account information from the 1981 census, suggests that the new projection will show figures which are of the order of 1 per cent. higher in each case.